


Merry Go Round

by theechosea



Series: The Cat Divergence [7]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 05:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1593629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theechosea/pseuds/theechosea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set around Act 21. Spoilers for that if you haven't watched it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Go Round

I can hear a pounding, absently wondering if some construction is going on, trying to shift around to see where I am. Everything feels fuzzy, and heavy.  
Someone moving furniture in the next apartment?  
“Ami-chan?”  
Not my mother. Where is she? At work? Out of town. That's right she left two days after Urawa.   
A face appears above mine, a hand brushing my fringe away from my eyes, feeling my forehead. Mako-chan?  
“I'm okay...don't worry...”   
“Ami-chan? You’re so hot! Here…” she lifts me up; strong hand, gently removing my thick outside coat. Why am I still wearing that? Was I cold? “You’ve been here by yourself? Where’s your mother?” she sounds disgusted when she speaks but she’s by herself all the time,  
“Out…of…town…” my mouth feels as though I slept with a ball in it, “Out—Europe.”   
“You have been here by yourself. Why didn’t you call somebody? Honestly, you’re supposed to be the smart one.”  
I want to cry, all of a sudden, as I lean there half rested against her left shoulder, as she gets the last part of my coat, the sleeves, off my wrists. I feel cold, stiff, as though something is crawling up the inside of my skin.  
“Ami-chan?” she asks, shifting, helping me sit up.  
“I’m okay…” I mumble.  
“No, you’re not. Don’t tell me you’ve never been sick before?”  
“My mother’s a doctor, right?”  
She massages my hands.  
“You’re so cold. Maybe I should have left your jacket on, but your head was so hot. Maybe you have the flu?”  
“I don’t know,” I feel tears running down my cheeks, “I was alone…” I tell her, “I was alone, and I was so scared, and everyone was so busy, and I didn’t…I couldn’t…there was…” I can't quite piece together what there was. I remember Rei-chan talking about how she had to train alone to get stronger because of the Princess. I remember knitting in the Arcade room like an idiot expecting everyone to come back to our supposedly important duties but Mako-chan was...  
“Ami-chan…” she admonishes, “We wouldn’t have minded. All I was doing was…” she shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter. We would have come. We're all friends, okay?” she winks at me, and then looks over to my dresser for tissues to wipe my eyes with, “I know what this is,” she says.  
I feel my eyes widen watching her. She's here now though. She is.   
“You’ve been doing too much stuff, silly. Studying, tutoring, and all the senshi mess, probably worrying about everyone, especially Usagi-chan, and now your body says “NO MORE!” she drops backwards off the bed, and I bolt upright looking for her.  
She picks herself up off the floor, “Gotcha moving!” she remarks, “How about this? You go take a nice warm relaxing shower, and you should feel much better, and I’ll make some soup.”  
“If you’re sure…”  
“Of course I’m sure. Doctor Mako-chan’s orders!” she hauls me to my feet and walk-pushes me all the way into the bathroom and closes the door, “I don’t hear water running!”  
I turn the shower on. I hear her footsteps walking into the kitchen. I stare at the shower for a while. I can hear water rushing inside my ears. I shake my head. I can close my eyes and see purple swirling around. It makes me shiver.  
I get out of the shower, as Makoto knocks on the bathroom door to see if I’m alright. I don’t quite remember getting in, but my body feels less sluggish, “I’ll be right out!” I tell her, “I, um, I need clothes…”  
She knocks on the door again in a minute, and then opens it, thrusting her hand through holding a couple of coat hangers, but not looking in. I take the clothes, thank her, put them on, and emerge.  
“You have more color,” she remarks, “Get back in bed. I've made soup.”  
“How are you feeling?” Makoto asks, after we've been eating in silence for a few minutes.  
“A lot better actually,” I nod, everything around us seems a lot brighter than it did a while ago, “Thank you so much for coming over.”  
She shrugs, “You weren’t in school I thought I’d check.”  
“Oh,” I nod  
“Well, it is unusual for you,” she says, and then adds, “Usagi-chan wasn’t in school either, or I’m sure she’d have been here with bells on.”  
“I hope not,” I tell her, “the way my head felt when you arrived bells would have been really annoying.”  
She gives me a quirky look, and finishes her drink, “You were really hungry,” she says after a moment, as I wipe the last piece of bread around my bowl.  
“I suppose. Feed a cold and starve a fever,” I answer, “Maybe it’s just a cold. Steam works with those too, that’s probably why the shower made me feel so much better.”  
“Yeah. So, what did you want to do?”  
I look around the apartment again. I don’t want to be inside. I know that. I need to go somewhere.  
“Ami-chan?”  
“The amusement park. Let’s go there.”  
“Are you…sure?”  
I nod, standing up and taking my dishes to the sink, “I want to get out of here. If it’s too expensive I’ll pay your way in. I just, I really want to go, please?” I look over at her.  
She’s eying me as though I just grew an extra head. But she stands up, and brings her cup over to the sink, “Maybe you really do have a fever?”  
“I can have fun sometimes, Mako-chan, can’t I? I always miss out on everything…”  
“Alright fine, no guilt trip. I’m holding you to that you paying thing though.”  
“Not a problem.” I pick up my lighter weight jacket, and check my purse, as we head out.  
I can see why Usagi had raved about the theme park. There are so many different things to do.   
“Come on, then. This way,” I bring her to the roller coaster. It’s very tall.  
“You want to go on this?” Makoto inquires, arms folded, eyeing me.  
I nod, “Why? Don’t you like it?”  
“No, it’s not that. I’ve been on it before. I just…” she shrugs, “I didn’t think this was your type of thing.”  
“You’ve never been to a theme park with me!” I point out, not that I've really been so much before, “Come on.” We join the line, which isn’t that long today.  
I always imagine theme parks with horrendously long lines, spending hours waiting for a few minutes. I know that’s my mother talking.  
The wind is getting a little chilly, as we wait.  
I try to listen as Makoto explains to me what we had done in school when I wasn’t there. I know it’s not like me to be disinterested in this, but for some reason it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm. I keep feeling as though there’s something else I should tell her about, but it disappears in snatches of purple cloud.  
“Ami-chan, it’s our turn,” Makoto says, “Or have you changed your mind?”  
I shake my head, and we climb in.  
I can feel everything whipping away from me, in the speed of the ride. It whirls around the corners, prompting everyone on board including us to shriek. Still the cloud is there, not even the high-speed of the roller coaster and the twists and turns can shake it loose.  
The log flume is exhilarating. I can feel the water all around us, as it zips around the turns. Makoto seems less than enthusiastic about this, and makes several unsavory comments about drowning as she wrings out her hair.  
“Hey, look,” Makoto remarks as we’re walking away from the ride, “Those balloons are senshi colors. They match our chairs.” she stops for a moment, catching breath and wiggling her legs, which are still shaking from the coaster.  
“Sit down, and I’ll buy us some,” I tell her.  
She shakes her head, mustering laughter even though she's wet and probably miserable. She sits down. We’re in view of the merry-go-round. The vendor quite happily sells me the over-priced balloons, and I bring them along with some snacks and drinks over to Makoto. She seems very confused and decides to only watch me as I go on the merry-go-round. I remember the merry-go-round. My father used to bring me here. I haven't seen him in so long. I feel the cold setting in again as I think about that. The merry-go-round is so slow though the darkness can catch up with me.


End file.
